We risk life and limb to test the limits and convenience of Piaggio's new X9 Evolution 500 maxi scooter.

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When Enrico Piaggio let the world's first Vespa scooters loose on the winding roads of postwar Italy, convenience (which, by the way, does not translate directly to Italian) meant a 2-wheel machine that wouldn't get the rider's clothes dirty, could carry a passenger and was simple and unintimidating to ride. The formula still holds true today. And with traffic congestion in every major metropolitan city in America getting worse every day, it's a formula that's starting to make more sense with every 1 cent increase at the gas pumps. Plus, scooters are a hoot to ride.

Piaggio's new X9 Evolution 500 is a true maxi scooter. Its 84-1/4-in. length and 460cc 1-cylinder engine qualify it as the largest and fastest scooter Piaggio has ever sold in the United States. (By comparison, Suzuki's Burgman 650 scooter--the biggest on the market--is 89 in. long and has a 638cc Twin.) Different as the X9 is from "il grandpa Vespa," it still follows the same recipe to serve up that all-important convenience. But it doles out a little more fun, as well.

The original Vespa's 3.5-hp 98cc engine was convenient (there goes that word again) enough for getting around Italian cities and blowing the hay off livestock-drawn carts--slowly. To be suitable for today's roads, however, a scooter needs enough power to avoid humiliation out on the open highway. The X9's four-stroke Single (derived from the European-market Beverly 500) is up to the task.

LIFE AND LIMB

For example, we cruised comfortably and passed with little effort on the high-speed (sometimes) 405 freeway around Los Angeles. And we were even able to accelerate hard enough to merge into the murderously aggressive traffic on New York City's pothole-laden Cross Bronx Expressway--traditionally voted the worst road in the country by long-haul truckers.

And with the X9's seemingly minimal 39-hp rating, maintaining constant acceleration and keeping up with traffic was no problem on the steep and long undulations of New York's Taconic Parkway, even with headwinds.

The pragmatic performance of the X9 keeps you amused because of how well it does what it's designed to do. You don't just gun the throttle while aiming for a gap in traffic and hope you make it--in fact, you nimbly zip into those pockets of opportunity. Piaggio says the X9 will reach speeds of 98 mph. On a closed-course test track, we found it can actually hit 110 mph.

DIMENSIONALLY DONE

Put the X9 in tight urban traffic situations and you'll see why engineers kept its 60.2-in. wheelbase and length the shortest of the maxi scooter class. If only they had positioned the faired mirrors a little lower and closer together to avoid interference when passing between a parked car and stopped traffic on Manhattan cross streets. Still, in certain situations this scooter is more nimble than our long-term Buell Lightning XB12S streetfighter test bike. Plus, the Piaggio's wheelbase and suspension (load-adjustable in the rear) are just right for extended trips on the highway and carving through the canyon roads of, say, California's Santa Barbara Mountains. Most of the X9's 470-pound mass is centered low to the ground, which makes the scooter very responsive to steering inputs.

The seat ain't great. For the rider, it's comfy for only about a half-hour. After that, we always started to feel like we were sliding forward, and certain unmentionable parts of our anatomy noted a little pressure. The rear seat, though, received general praise from a pool of seven passengers of varying heights and weights. The stouter ones (165-plus pounds, shorter than 5-1/2 ft.) said the seat felt a little too wide after 40 minutes of riding.

The final prerequisite--not getting your clothes dirty--is a given. The front leg shield not only keeps your pants clean, it has a glovebox-size panel for storage, a split-ring hook to hold a shopping bag, and a top console that's good for storing sunglasses and loose change. Then there's the under-seat trunk, which has enough volume to hold one full-face and one open-face helmet. And it's asymmetrically shaped so a laptop bag can be slipped right in. There's also a 12-volt charger under the seat that keeps your cellphone at the ready. Finally, the windscreen can be manually adjusted to three heights.

Vespa's original Chief Engineer, Corradino D'Ascanio, would be proud. The X9 Evolution 500 is easy to ride. Its automatic transmission makes for twist 'n' go acceleration and the braking is equally simple and potent. The right brake lever activates only the two front 260mm discs, the left lever activates both the front brakes and the rear 240mm disc. Caution: If you're accustomed to grabbing the left clutch lever on a motorcycle, expect to inadvertently stop short on the X9 your first few times.

NEED TO KNOW

The only thing not simple about riding the X9 is reading its instruments, which are partially blocked by the handlebar-mounted travel computer and are graduated in kilometers per hour first, mph second. Once you crane your head forward to see where the needle is on the speedometer, expect to take a couple seconds discerning the small mph figures on the inside circumference of the dial. Now we know how Canadians must feel driving American cars.

D'Ascanio hated motorcycles, but Piaggio's X9 undeniably has some sport-touring DNA. This maxi scooter delivers the convenience, value and fun needed to be appealing. Mind you, it's not macho enough to be cool with bikers and it can't jive with the sophisticated retro scooter set, but at $5999, it's much less expensive than a real sport-touring motorcycle.